We had a bit of an adventure with poor Maile Girl on Sunday. Mommy was eating cheerios and peanut butter and Maile was on her lap. Maile decided she wanted to try one. We actually discussed quickly whether we should let her and decided that it was a safe a place as any to let her try.
Well, we didn’t have to wait long for the results.
I don't like how I feel right now.
Within a few minutes Maile started coughing a little bit and then really rubbing at her ear. I thought something might be wrong because I remembered that if I eat something I’m allergic to, my throat itches and rubbing my ear sometimes helps. We kept an eye on Maile and about ten minutes later her face started getting a bit red. From there things happened pretty quick – the left side of her face got really swollen and hives started breaking out all over her upper cheek and eye area. We immediately gave her Benadryl and then debated what to do. We put a call in to my old pediatrician, but decided we didn’t want to wait around and headed to the hospital.
Maile at the hospital - this was pretty much the peak of the reaction...
They saw us right away at the hospital and we quickly determined that we hadn’t given Maile enough Benadryl. They gave her a bigger dose and then we waited for about 45 minutes. Luckily, the hives started to go away and the swelling went down a bit. Maile never had any breathing issues and we got the all clear to take her home. We continued to give her Benadryl every 6 hours for 24 hours and by this afternoon, her face looked pretty much back to normal.
I want to stress that Maile is fine now. She was clearly uncomfortable during the reaction, but I honestly think it was harder on Mommy and Daddy than poor Maile Girl. Definitely a scary situation. We’re going to be talking to our normal pediatrician to determine next steps. Obviously, Maile won’t be having peanut butter any time soon – not sure what other precautions we’ll need to take. Also want to mention that it was really nice having Grandma Jill with us to keep us calm!
(Click here for the video.)
